12 Hours
by Kata Malfoy
Summary: Half a day. Long enough for Cooper to yell at Sebastian, then save him, and then decide he doesn't want to let him go.


**This is a combination fill of two GKM prompts about Cooper going to pick up Sebastian after he's been raped.**

**Warnings: Bad language and adult themes (discussion of non-con). Nothing graphic.**

**9:13PM**

'That outfit is awful,' comments Cooper, glancing up from where he's reading the newspaper. Blaine pauses in the doorway, looking down at the brightly coloured shirt/bow-tie combination.

'It's not that bad, right?' he replies, frowning.

'The shirt is okay, I guess. Lose the bow-tie.'

Blaine nods and starts undoing it, walking over to put his bag down on the table. When he's done, he looks at Cooper for approval.

'Much better. Do you have condoms? Emergency hair gel?'

'Oh, shut up,' groans Blaine, but he's smiling a little. When Cooper comes home for the weekend – a rarity – it's nice to get some familiar bickering in. In fact, if Cooper had told anyone he was coming, then Blaine wouldn't have made plans to sleep over at Kurt's. As it had turned out, their parents were at a play, so Cooper was spending the night alone.

'We still on for breakfast tomorrow?'

'Yeah, sure thing,' replies Cooper, reaching out to pick up his cup of coffee. Shift work at the hospital has screwed his sleep patterns beyond recognition, so coffee after dark seems natural. He'll probably be up half the night trying to sleep anyway. Another little bonus of being an ER resident.

'Cool, I'll see you then.'

'Bye. Tell Kurt I say hi.'

**10:13PM.**

Cooper is actually beginning to feel tired and is embarrassed about how thankful he is for that. A lack of sleep makes him grumpy at home and distracted at work.

He is wandering around the big, empty house. His mind is filled with half-formed thoughts about his family and his future, because Cooper has been thinking a lot recently. No one ever told him about this 'third-life crisis'; you get to 25, you've got the college degree and the good job… and then what? You work for the next forty years? Cooper loves being a doctor, but he wants to be more than just that. He can't find a girlfriend he wants to stay with (and sometimes, only sometimes, he wonders if there's a reason for that. But Blaine has beaten him to the punch and their parents can't have two gay sons, so Cooper usually stops those thoughts before they even begin). He's working eighty-hour weeks and that's his whole life at the moment. He feels like he's missing something. When Blaine leaves for college in a year, Cooper will have one less reason to come home. He has his own place – because he can afford it and he's twenty-five, that's part of the plan, get a house – and only comes home when he wants to see his family.

Tonight, though, he's in an empty house and he can't stop _thinking_.

**11:13PM.**

The ringing of the phone is unexpected and the noise is unfamiliar. It's some stupid song Cooper would never use, but it's right near his hand, so he pulls Blaine's mobile out from under his brothers discarded jumper. Before Cooper can even begin to contemplate why it is here when Blaine isn't, the name SEBASTIAN SMYTHE on the screen catches his eye.

And… no. No freaking way is that boy calling Blaine. Not after the hospital and surgery and everything. Cooper is picking up the phone, a furious expression on his face, before he even really thinks about it.

'Hey dickhead,' Cooper begins as soon as he answers the call. He doesn't give the boy on the other end a chance to speak. There is nothing this Sebastian can say that Cooper wants to hear. 'You think hurting people is fun? You think it's a joke that you put my brother in hospital? It's not. You're a vindictive little bastard and you know what, Lima a small town. But the world is a big place and I take comfort in the knowledge that one day you're going to get the shit kicked out of you and nobody is going to care. Nobody will give a shit, because you're not going to have anybody around who even cares if you're alive. You throw yourself around, you act like a slut and eventually people treat you like one. Don't come near Blaine again, ever. Stay away from him and Kurt.'

Cooper stops, his hands tight around the phone, satisfaction flowing through him. He can't do much to make Blaine's life easier - can't take his tests, can't make the world less intolerant, can't hit those boys from the dance - but he can do this. One less violent bully to deal with.

And while Cooper isn't expecting Sebastian to have an immediate comeback, he is expecting more than silence. He can hear the sound of traffic in the background of the call, he can hear breathing, but no words.

'What's the matter Smythe? Disappointed Blaine isn't here for you to torment?' asks Cooper in annoyed confusion. A one-sided conversation isn't the fight he was expecting, it's leaving him hanging alone with the unfamiliar, angry words on his tongue. He wants to bait an answer out of the school-boy, he wants more justification to hate this kid.

There is a screech of tyres on the other end of the phone and a very distinctive groan. Atonement fades from Cooper's mind and he frowns.

'Look, say something. Why are you calling Blaine?'

'I...' comes a rough voice, almost inaudible over the sounds of traffic. 'I need a ride.'

'Are you fucking _kidding_?' says Cooper, a derisive scoff escaping his lips. The anger is back, because this boy must be utterly heartless to ask that of Blaine, after what he did. 'Why would Blaine ever give you a ride? You must be psychotic.'

'Who are you?' says the scratchy voice and Cooper notices the slight waver in it. 'Where's Blaine?'

'He's not here,' replies Cooper bluntly. This conversation is making him uneasy, there is no swearing or taunting coming from the other end of the line. Cooper doesn't usually cut people down with words and now that the first wave of rage has gone, he has some misgivings about what he said to Sebastian. It was petty. He is meant to be the adult, he is meant to control himself. And Sebastian doesn't... doesn't sound _right_.

'Oh.' Sebastian lets out a short, shaky breath that travels down the line and sets off every warning instinct inside Cooper's mind. 'O-okay. Sorry.'

There is more silence and Cooper stands still, listening closely, waiting for the line to go dead. He can still hear the traffic, the breathing, but Sebastian isn't hanging up. Cooper stands here, fingers tapping restlessly against the granite bench top, for nearly twenty seconds.

'Are you still there?' he says eventually.

'Yes,' comes the reply instantly. Sebastian's voice is... almost uncomprehending. Cooper doesn't have anything to compare his tone to, but this isn't how the imagined the smarmy prep boy who has been pursuing Blaine.

'Sebastian, are you... okay?' continues Cooper, not completely sure _why_ he needs to ask that question, but a strange twisting in his stomach is forcing the words out.

'I... no. No, I need... I need a ride.'

'Are you hurt?' presses Cooper, because as much as he dislikes the idea of Sebastian-the-slushie-attacker, he is even more disturbed by the thought of a seventeen-year-old boy in the dark, alone and hurt. He holds on tightly to the phone, as there is another lengthy pause.

'Fuck,' whispers Sebastian, voice cracking. 'Fuck, fuck, _fuck_.'

'Sebastian.' Cooper tries to sound authoritative, he speaks clearly in the voice he uses on distressed patients. 'Are you hurt?'

The breathing on the other end of the phone is getting heavier and the answer to Cooper's question is almost lost in a quivering exhale.

'Yes.'

**12:13AM**

Cooper barely knows where he is, he's taken his Dad's car after it took him nearly ten minutes to get a proper location out of the boy who he still has on the phone (_drunk?_). The call duration has just ticked over an hour. He is finally pulling up at the back of some bar he's never been to (_Scandals_). He hasn't spoken into the phone for nearly half an hour, but Sebastian still hasn't ended the call (_unsettling_). Cooper opens the door and strides out into the dark, looking around for… for a kid he's never even met.

He spots a figure sitting on the curb, deliberately avoiding the illumination of the streetlights. Cooper walks towards the shape, but stops when a familiar shaky voice (_clearer than on the phone, more obviously scared, horribly tired_) speaks from the shadows.

'I don't have any money, so you can fuck off, you're too late.'

'Sebastian?' asks Cooper, taking a few steps forward (_non-threatening, gently_). 'I'm Blaine's brother. Cooper.'

The parking lot is filled with echoes of traffic from the highway next to it, there is barely any light and Cooper is freezing. He isn't sure what he's dealing with. When Sebastian pulls himself up (_too slowly_) and walks towards Cooper (_limping, stumbling_) he finally steps into some murky light.

Cooper's eyes automatically complete a visual evaluation of the damage and the verdict is 'superficial'. Cooper's seen worse. He's always seen worse. The boy is tall (_much taller than Blaine_) and dressed simply (_no bowties, no layers_). He's striking (_green eyes, sharp cheek bones_). His lip is bleeding freely (_maybe four stitche_s) and there is a clotted cut across his forehead (_probably another five_). Blood is staining his t-shirt. There is graze on one of his cheeks (_chance of infection_) and Cooper can't obviously see how he got it (_falling over?_). He is standing awkwardly, clearly some pain (_bruising, check for internal injuries)_ and his right arm is supporting his left wrist gingerly (_possible fracture, more likely sprain_). His phone is held tightly in his good hand.

Cooper takes a step closer, hands held in front of him. He keeps looking, even when he wishes his brain would just stop.

Sebastian is swaying (_drunk_), but his pupils are dilated (_drugs_). He looks confused, staring at Cooper vacantly (_rohypnol?_).

His shirt is torn at the bottom, the button of his pants is undone. He's standing at the back of a bar, bleeding and spaced out. He can barely stand up. He is limping. He is underage and too good-looking and drunk. His pants are undone.

(_rape, rape, rape, rape, rape_)

**1:13AM**

'Coop, he won't let any of us near him.'

Cooper runs a hand over his face, he's so fucking tired and can't stop thinking about Blaine.

Blaine who is safe at Kurt's. Blaine who wasn't raped in a parking lot tonight. Blaine who he didn't have to bring to the hospital. Blaine who's blood isn't on the door handle of his car. Blaine who didn't say _don't leave me_ like it was the hardest thing in the world.

'I barely know him, Sue. I'm not even on tonight. I can't do his kit, he knows my brother. He needs someone who can be professional.'

'He had a panic attack when I stepped into the room, we've only just got him off the floor. You know we can't sedate him, not with a depressant already in his system. We need to get the kit done now, stringing it out is only going to make it worse for him.'

'I really don't want to do this,' says Cooper sadly, even though he knows he is going to anyway. They need any DNA samples immediately and if that means Coop has to clock some overtime...

'I know, but who ever wants to do these on underage kids. You got some spares scrubs in your locker?'

Cooper nods, running a hand through his hair. _Blaine, Blaine, Blaine_ is all he can think.

**2:13AM**

'._.just keep breathing, Sebtastian, okay? When you start feeling like you're going to panic just breathe and tell me. I'll stop. I'm going to go as fast as I can, okay? You can just nod… Yeah? Okay. Firstly, I need you to just scoot down to the edge, so you're sitting right on the edge… That's good… Put your feet up in stirrups, that's it, I know it's uncomfortable. Remember, just breathe. I know you're sore. First, I'm just going to look around and assess any damage. It's going to hurt, I'm sorry. The gloves are going to be cold… I'm just going to, oh! No, sorry, sorry…. I'm stopping. We'll take a few seconds break… Alright, I'm going to try again. I know it hurts, but I need you to just hold on, Sebastian. This needs to be done and we're going to get through it. Okay, I'm just going to put two fingers in… that's it, you're doing really, really well… only a few more seconds… alright, I'm done, take a deep breath…. Try and relax, Sebastian, you did so well. I know it hurts, but nothing is torn and that's a really good thing. I only have to do one more test, I just need to take a swab... It won't hurt as much, it will only take a few seconds. Are you ready? This is the last thing, Sebastian, and then you can have a shower. Okay? …Breath, just relax... All done. You did so well, just keep breathing, are you cold? I'll get you another blanket. You can take your feet down now. It's over now, it's over…_'

**3:13AM**

'Dr. Anderson?' comes a rough voice and Cooper looks up from where he has been staring blankly at Sebastian's chart for the last five minutes. He'd been making notes about the examination.

'Yes?' he replies, looking tensely at the two police officers standing in front of him. They're in the corridor outside the ER.

'You bought Sebastian Smythe in tonight, is that right?'

'Yes, that's right.'

Cooper knows this is standard procedure when there is a minor suspected of being sexually assaulted, but the police are making him uncomfortable. They look tired, bored. He tries to keep his expression neutral.

'Can you let us know what happened before you bought Mr. Smythe into the ER?'

'He's friends with my little brother, they go to school together. He called my brother, but I answered the phone. He sounded distressed and was asking for a ride, so I went to collect him. As soon as I realised what had happened, I bought him here. His rape kit was positive and he's been drugged with rohypnol, but other than that, it's just cuts and bruises.'

He speaks in his most professional voice; he meets the police officer's eyes and talks like Sebastian is just another patient. They'll never know that he spent twenty minutes vomiting in the bathroom after he completed Sebastian's examination – he's never done one on a man before, not a man, a boy, a gay teenage boy, a friend of Blaine's, oh _God_ – and Cooper hopes they can't see that he's mostly running on adrenaline at this point of the evening.

'Where exactly did you collect him from?' asks the policeman, sounding uninterested.

Cooper studies his face and then suddenly realises what is going on here. Slow, dark anger starts to build inside him.

'A parking lot just off the highway,' he says quietly.

'That gay bar?' says the other cop, barely keeping the distain out of his voice.

'Yes. That gay bar. Is that a problem?' replies Cooper, voice pointedly calm.

'No, no,' says the first cop, sharing a look with his partner. _Bastards_, thinks Cooper. 'Are his parents here yet?'

'We haven't been able to contact them. It seems they're out of the country. There doesn't appear to be anyone else, although Sebastian is still a bit disorientated.'

And that gets the policeman's attention, his head shoots up from where he's been writing down notes.

'No parents? We'll have to call social services, get them down here.'

Cooper can't stop his eyes from widening. Social services? They're going to try and put him into the system? He's a rape victim. Calling in social services is just… vindictive.

'He's staying with me,' says Cooper firmly. 'As I said, he's friends with my brother. His parents asked if he could stay with us.'

'With _you_? And you were the one to complete his examination?' The cop can't keep the condescension out of this voice this time. Cooper suspects they think he is the one who raped Sebastian. And worse, they don't even _care_.

'Yes.'

'If he's staying with you, then we don't need to get involved,' says the other officer and they're already stepping away, like they're worried they'll catch queer from Cooper. 'Thank you for your time, Mr. Anderson.'

Cooper wants to punch them. They're almost certainly going to say in their report that this is just consensual (_faggy, perverted, wrong_) sex between him and Sebastian. That should grate more than it does, but another large part of Cooper wants to spare Sebastian the added trauma of talking to these utter bastards.

He doesn't say anything as they walk away, he just stays standing between the retreating figures and the door to Sebastian's room.

**4:13AM**

'You look like him.'

'Blaine?'

'Yeah. Except your eyes are blue.'

'Yes.'

'So I can go home?'

'We're not admitting you. Now that you've got those stitches, you don't need to stay.'

'Right. I thought… I thought after what happened, someone would-'

'Usually, we would. It's just… it's complicated.'

'Oh. Okay.'

'Sebastian?'

'They think I wanted it, right? That's why no-one is doing anything?'

'That's not entirely true.'

'Whatever. Just… fuck them. Fuck all of you.'

'I'm really sorry.'

'Yeah, sure.'

'Look, you can come home with me, you shouldn't be on your own. You still need to sleep off the drugs. We'll try your parents again in the morning.'

'My parents are going to think the same thing as everyone else, that I'm a slut and I deserved it.'

'Sebastian! Don't say that.'

'Why not? It's true.'

'It's not, God, just come on. We'll both get some sleep and talk again tomorrow.'

'You really expect me to go home with you? I don't even know you.'

'Where else are you going to go? Why didn't you call someone else tonight?'

'…'

'Where else are you going to go?'

'…. Okay, _fine_.'

'Alright. Here's one of my spare shirts.'

'If this is a sex thing, you're out of luck. As you saw earlier, I'm not really… up for it at the moment.'

'Jesus. No. _No_. Come on.'

**5:13AM**

Cooper has set Sebastian up on his couch. He had been taken aback by how mouthy Sebastian had been before they left the hospital – finally, he saw the boy Kurt disliked so intensely – but as soon as they had left, the attitude had faded out of Sebastian. He sat silently in the passenger seat of the car, his face drawn.

Now, Cooper glances at him worriedly, because Sebastian is still a little foggy from the rohypnol. He's curled up on his side on Cooper's sofa, staring blankly at the carpet. The gauze on his cheek, stitches in his forehead and lip are stark against his white skin.

'Can I get you anything? Tea?' asks Cooper, unused to having someone in his domestic environment. Especially a silent, battered teenage boy.

Sebastian mumbles something quietly in response, but Cooper can't make it out. He walks over, crouching down next to the couch. Sebastian shifts away from him.

'What was that?' says Cooper gently.

'I said you can get me a fucking time machine,' whispers Sebastian weakly, clenching his eyes shut so he doesn't have to look into Cooper's impossibly blue eyes. 'Make so this never happened, God, I need this to have never happened. I need this to stop. Just _go away_.'

He knows he should say something appropriate, comforting. No words come into Cooper's head. He doesn't know how to help this kid. He's never had to deal with something like this before, even when Blaine got hurt, it was their mom who handled the real, emotional stuff. Cooper knows how to set a broken leg, how to diagnose diabetes, how to remove an inflamed appendix. He doesn't know what to say the boy lying curled up on his couch.

'I'll be upstairs if you need me.'

Cooper slowly walks up the stairs and lies down on his bed. He stares at the ceiling.

**6:13AM**

The sun is beginning to paint the sky pink outside Cooper's window. He is still staring at the ceiling. His mind is a mix of Sebastian (_fucking beautiful, can't think that, bad, wrong_) and Blaine (_could have been Blaine, not again, not Blaine_) and burning anger (_fucking cops_) and cold fury (_how you ever rape someone? what's in your head?_) and frustration (_I should have done more_) and confusion (_shit, what am I meant to do when he wakes up?_) and tiredness and just… everything.

His door creaks a little as it's opened. Cooper raises his head to look at the silhouette of Sebastian in the doorway. He stands there, completely still, and Cooper speaks gently.

'It's okay.'

Without a word, Sebastian pads over to the bed. He silently climbs onto and Cooper is tense, heart racing, not sure what to expect. Sebastian lies down next to him, as close as they can possibly be without actually touching. He can feel the heat from Sebastian's skin and the way he's trembling. Cooper carefully tugs the blanket over, covering Sebastian. The barest hints of morning light reflect gold off his hair. Cooper goes back to staring at the ceiling, thoughts silent, brain filled with the stuttering rhythm of Sebastian's breathing.

**7:13AM**

**From Kurt:** It's Blaine. Have you seen my phone? I thought I left it on the bench.

**From Kurt:** Coop, where are you?

**From Kurt**: I still can't find my phone. I came home for breakfast, where are you?

**From Kurt**: Coop! This is not cool. I got up early for this.

**From Kurt**: Call me. I'm getting worried.

**7:13AM**

Cooper isn't sure if it's the noise or the sudden wetness against his neck that makes him jerk awake. The sun is dull outside the window and Cooper can feel a hot, hard body resting against his own. Crying. His mind catches up and Cooper realises that Sebastian is pressed against him, crying into his neck. He's obviously trying to stay quiet, the sobs are muffled, but the heaves of his chest are distinctive. Cooper's neck is wet with tears. Automatically, Cooper lifts his arms to encircle Sebastian's shaking form. He holds him firmly, turns his body to better support Sebastian's curled up limbs. Sebastian barely reacts, he just cries harder, fingers curled in Cooper's shirt. The bandage on his sprained wrist is heavy between them.

'You're going to be okay,' whispers Cooper after a few minutes, when Sebastian seems to have run our of tears and is just lying against him shaking. He tightens his arms.

'I don't remember it,' mumbles Sebastian. His voice is thick and muddled with tears. His face is buried in Cooper's neck and Cooper has to strain to understand him. 'I thought…it would come back, but it… it's not there. I can't remember.'

'You'll be okay,' Cooper repeats.

'Fuck,' breathes Sebastian, a visible shudder running through him. 'Oh f-fuck, I can't do this.'

**8:13AM**

Sebastian asks to have another shower and Cooper shows him to the bathroom. As soon as the door it closed (and Cooper feels uneasy with a closed door between them), he picks up his phone and calls Kurt. As he waits for them to pick up, he rubs a hand over his tired eyes.

'Coop? Are you okay?' comes Blaine's voice as soon as the call connects.

'Yeah. Sorry about breakfast, I had to go into work.'

'Oh right,' says Blaine. Cooper hates how confused he sounds, he can't cope with all the tangled things he's feeling about Blaine right now. He glances at the closed bathroom door.

'Look, Blaine, something happened last night.'

'Is Mo-'

'No, they're fine. It's about Sebastian.'

'_Sebastian_?' exclaims Blaine. The way he says the name makes Cooper's chest hurt. 'Sebastian Smythe? What about him… are _you_ okay? What did he do?'

'Nothing. He called your phone last night and I picked up. He's been beaten up. He's staying with me.'

Cooper says the facts as briskly as he can, because he knows it sounds crazy. It _is_ crazy. Blaine is going to think he's lost his mind.

'With you? Coop… what? I don't understand.'

'Blaine, I know i-' Cooper stops talking when he hears the sounds of retching from inside the bathroom. 'I'll bring your phone round later, I've got to go.'

Hanging up, Cooper walks over to knock on the bathroom door. He can hear Sebastian vomiting inside and after getting no answer to his knock, he opens the door and moves over to kneel next to the teen (_tears, two burst stitches in his lip, beautiful green eyes_).

'Hey,' he says, placing a hand between Sebastian's shoulder blades. 'I'm here, I got you.'

Cooper can hear his phone ringing out in the hall, but he ignores it. He raises a hand to push Sebastian's hair out of his eyes, talking quietly.

'You're going to be okay. Just breathe.'


End file.
